John Lewis - My Staple Shop (John Lewis)

Member Name: Mrs-LT

Product:	John Lewis
Date:	03/02/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Friendly staff, sell most premium brands, great nursery department, great online service

Disadvantages: Shoddy shop layout, sales that are not real sales

I really love John Lewis - for baby equipment it is always my first port of call. It is also where I get all of my kitchen stuff from, where I buy luggage, where I raid the Molton Brown counter, where I look for special occasion outfits, where I buy electrical goods and where I buy a lot of my homewares. In short, I am a pretty good customer and I have had nothing but good experiences with both the store and the website.

Firstly, the website. When I am looking for any baby equipment, this is always the first place I check as prices are extremely competitive and they stock a really wide range of goods. The best thing is that they deliver anything for free! When you compare this with the Mothercare website, which charges almost £5 unless you spend over £150 and is nearly always more expensive for the same products, I think it is clear why I love it. I needed some new cotbed sheets a few weeks ago and it's great that I can just order them online without worrying about paying for postage. Standard delivery is quoted as being 3-5 working days but I have never waited that long for anything.

The nursery department is fantastic and the advisors really know their stuff - I had umpteen pram demonstrations over a 3 month period when trying to decide which one I wanted and they never tired of going through the options with me. In the end I did not buy from them but only because they do not stock the one I eventually chose. They have a huge range though (I must have bought the only pram they don't do!) so it should defintely be your first port of call for pram shopping!

The only area I find the shop lacking in is their baby clothes department - it is poorly stocked and the clothes are too pricey. They need a wider range of clothes. I can easily afford the prices but would not pay £30+ for a baby cardigan that will only last a couple of months, and most of my friends feel the same.

The luggage department is great and very reasonably priced.

I am not keen on the restaurant or coffee shop as it is pricey and what you get I do not think is worth what you pay for it.

The cosmetics hall is lovely and the displays are great. However as premium beauty products are a standard price I buy mine in Boots for the Advantage Card points! However they are the only place that stocks a huge range of Molton Brown products in our area so I always buy these from John Lewis.

The electrical and kitchen departments are great as I think they have a pricer match guarantee so they will match the price of a product if you find it cheaper elsewhere. However I have not yet found anywhere cheaper anyway so I have not tested this out.

They sell a wide range of women's clothes and have concessions such as Principles, Jacques Vert, Warehouse and Coast to name but a few. I have always found the sales assistants in the clothing department to be very helpful and not at all pushy.

Overall, this is a great shop. The problem I have is that ours is poorly laid out and not well signposted internally. The lifts are difficult to access on the ground floor and there are lots of split levels which is a logistical nightmare with a pram. Also, their sales are never much to speak of, with poor discounts in general which I hate - if you are trying to sell stock off price it low! And if you're not then don't pretend there is a fantastic sale going on when there clearly is not!

Summary: Great shop overall